Tag: Normans

Lonely car drives, walks, jogging, spring cleaning – I find many opportunities when it’s nice to have something to listen to. And while I’ve got an excellent library of music that can play for a week and a half without repeating a song if I let it go continuously, I’ve also become quite a big fan of podcasts over the years. And to no one’s surprise, my favorite podcasts are nearly all related to literature and history.

Here are my current favorite history podcasts – the literary ones will be in a later post, as I have more of them. I encourage you to give each of them a try. If you like them, subscribe to them on your favorite platform, and after you’ve listened awhile, give them a rating on whatever podcast or app store you got them from. Feel free, as well, to discuss them here, and to share your own favorite podcasts.

They are available through iTunes and the iPhone’s App Store.

HISTORY

“Norman Centuries”

This is one of the first I discovered, several years back. Lars Brownworth is an excellent lecturer, with a voice that is clear and easy to listen to. Beginning with Rollo, the Viking leader who settled in the region of northern France now called Normandy, Brownworth tells the adventures of Rollo’s people as they established kingdoms in Britain and the Mediterranean. While not often nice people, the Normans were some of the most fascinating adventurers the world has ever known. Their story is entertaining and often thrilling – there’s nothing dry or boring about the Normans or the way Brownworth speaks about them!

Lars Brownworth also has another great podcast about 12 Byzantine Rulers, which can be found at https://12byzantinerulers.com/. He’s also authored books on these subjects.

The History of English Podcast

This podcast is an incredibly impressive achievement in the organization and correlation of research. Kevin Stroud draws from many different sources to bring us the story of the English language itself – where its distant roots are in prehistory, how our ancestors migrated and found new words, how their livelihoods determined their vocabulary, and the myriad unexpected ways that people and their languages can change, shift, and bloom.

And it’s told as a story. This podcast is at once an epic (following thousands of years of wars, politics, migrations, and assorted adventures), a mystery (examining clues in words and writings to figure out what they really are, who was behind them, and what their effects are), and a human drama (often delving into the lives of specific historical figures to understand how they influenced other people and the popular spoken language).

Ancient Warfare Podcast

Most episodes seem to consist of roundtable discussions on some topic of – surprisingly! – ancient warfare by the hosts. I’ve listened to a bit, but they’re informative and cover and wide range of fascinating topics. Well worth checking out.